An Introduction to the Southeast Asia Fertility Program

The Southeast Asia Fertility Project is a study of demographic transitions
in Southeast Asia with a primary focus on the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, and Thailand. The project, a long-term collaborative research
between Charles Hirschman at the University of Washington and colleagues
in each country, began in the mid 1980s with data from the 1970 and 1980
round of population censuses. Data from the 1990 round of population censuses
have been added to the project data archive. The central feature of this
study is a multilevel modeling strategy that incorporates the contextual
characteristics of provinces in addition to individual-level characteristics
as determinants of fertility levels and fertility change. The contextual
variables include empirical indicators of the status of women, the economic
roles of children, infant mortality, and marriage patterns. The project
has received grant support from the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development. The project data archive contains the original census
files, the primary file extracts, codebooks, and the computer programs
used to create and process the data files. The codebooks and data documentation
can be directly accessed (by Adobe Acrobat), but researchers must request
permission from the statistical agencies in each country before receiving
access to the census data files.